In one of my recent conversations at work about our upcoming wedding, the topic turned to rings, then diamonds. Someone mentioned that they were going to be turned into a diamond after they died, then made into a necklace so that their dearest (whomever that may turn out to be) could wear her next to their heart.

I was skeptical, then amused, disgusted, fascinated, then sketpical again.

I know they can make artifical diamonds, but from people?

A series of emails began (and continues) among my well informed and very imaginitive friends and relatives. This is why I love them so.

My initial thought was the same (or nearly) as [Jim's]; this has to be a scam. Not one to leave well enough alone (and fueled by a fit of post-work insomnia) I did a little research, most of which will bore everyone. (Except for maybe Jim...and that's one of the things (among many) I appreciate about him.)

Here's the link on the LifeGem site about the process.

For those who don't want to read all of the (admittedly, vague) info, here's the most important part. "After extensive research and development, [whatever that means] we have discovered how to extract the carbon from existing cremated remains." "Once captured, this carbon is heated to extremely high temperatures under special conditions. While removing the existing ash, this process converts your loved one’s carbon to graphite."

Like I said, vague.

Another thing that makes me leery is that it says, "LifeGem diamonds are individually inspected, graded, and identified by world-renowned gemologists trained by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)."

A careful read here indicates not that they are GIA certified, but that they are "identified" (whatever that means) by gemologists "trained by GIA," which is not the same as being certified by GIA itself.

Searches for "cremation diamonds" and "cremation" on the GIA site turned up nothing.

From Corporate Information Officer magazine titled, “Diamonds (and Grandma) are Forever"
"Carbon leaves the body in the form of carbon dioxide during the cremation process, says Mark Bouffard, a LifeGem spokesman. But a patented process that manipulates the oxygen level in the cremation oven allows the carbon to remain.”

According to wikipedia:
LifeGem claims to use a "carbon curing" container to collect the human remains halfway through the cremation process. The carbon is supposedly converted to graphite after purification, from which point it is sent to a diamond synthesis facility. As of spring 2003 the task of synthesis was given exclusively to Lucent Diamonds of Colorado. The diamonds were made via the thermal gradient method by a team of Russian scientists using iron alloys as a flux at pressures of 5.0–6.0 GPa and temperatures of 1,600–2,000 °C. The entire process, from cremation to finished stone, is said to take about six months.

The wikipedia article also states:
It is important to note that, at present, there is no nondestructive method of testing the origin of carbon used in diamond synthesis: It has yet to be independently verified that LifeGem products (patent pending) are indeed composed—either in part or in whole—of human remains, or if the carbon is from another source.

Interesting tidbits:

Apparently, they originally created the process from pigs. I guess you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear after all.

A Yahoo! search for"cremation diamonds" returned 183,000 hits.

Lifegem is a member of the Cremation Association of North America (CANA).

From About.com:
Getting the Carbon:
Carbon released during cremation is captured as a dark powder, then heated to produce graphite. The graphite is sent to a lab where it is synthesized into fancy colored diamonds. (I guess if the diamond thing doesn't work for you, you can always use the graphite and make someone into a gross of #2 pencils.)
Skeptical?
LifeGem says it has an open door policy, allowing you to inspect many aspects of their tracking system. The system follows all remains throughout the entire process, from cremation to faceting. They also offer a more advanced type of system that uses special markers to track remains.
Diamonds From Pets?
Yes, the company will produce diamonds from your pet's remains.
Diamond Quality
LifeGem says that its overall quality target is to produce gems at the VVS clarity level (very, very slightly included; very, very slightly imperfect).

So there you have it.

The general consensus among those I emailed is that this process runs from weird to creepy to just plain "sick." Though one friend of mine said she would turn her family into a tiara.

Good luck with that.